Knowledge transmission in the second part of careers: does formal training matter?

Purpose - This paper examines to what extent formal training targeted to workers aged 45 and over could enhance their knowledge transmission activities specifically in changing work environments. This is a key issue for human resources practitioners. Allowing older workers to keep on interacting with their colleagues and transmitting their knowledge acquired through experience reduces the risk for firms of losing critical knowledge assets. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use French-matched employer–employee data to estimate the effect of participation in training sessions intended to support change on the probability for workers aged 45–59 of frequently showing work practices to their co-workers. To account for selection bias in training, the authors reduce the group of untrained workers to those who wanted to attend a training session but had to cancel their participation for exogenous reasons. Leuven and Oosterbeek (2008) show that this is a valid approximation of a random assignment to training. Findings - Training with the intention to support change for workers aged 45 and more significantly increases knowledge transmission for training participants. This effect is not strictly related to a supervising role as it is significant for workers without subordinates; it holds when the authors address the selection bias in training by narrowing down the comparison group. When training comes as a response to mitigate the potential negative effects of technological or organizational changes in the work environment, it helps workers aged 45–59 maintain their contribution to the knowledge base of the production. Research limitations/implications - Our findings suggest that two main aspects have to be borne in mind when assessing the effectiveness of training for older workers. First, the reasons for training must be carefully considered, especially if it occurs in response to technological or organizational change in the workplace. Second, the continuation of in(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)